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20 Responses to “Последний Козырь (19 мая)”

Besides the interesting and scary picture of the White House being made to look and even be more like the Kremlin, we might be able to see oil as at least part of what influences/colors the change.

I haven’t read the Time article, so I don’t know if they touch on that in terms of deals in Russia and in Antarctica. Below are links on oil matters that have moved significantly since Trump came into office.

Regarding Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, he’s just done a massive arms deal with the country responsible for exporting and financing some of the worst Islamic extremists – including the Sept 11 attacks, and those “educating” terrorists in various Islamic schools and camps.

[The videos are Justin Bieber singing quite well. The longer one starts with one of your favorite people who has just been interviewed (an author, the reason I was watching in the first place), then goes to the introduction of the new music album and the full performance.]

Syria’s fate has little impact on U.S. security. During the Cold War the regime, headed by Assad’s father, was allied with the Soviet Union. After being defeated by Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Damascus retreated to a cold war with Israel. Syria meddled in neighboring Lebanon, but with little impact on anyone else. Despite Syria’s friendship with Iran, the latter remained well behind the military capabilities of Saudi Arabia and its Sunni coalition.

Even if Syria mattered more it would not justify intervention by the U.S. Policymakers have turned military action into a first resort, but war is different in kind and not just in degree from other policy options. It should be reserved to protect America, which is not threatened by the Syrian civil war.

Bombs Away

Today Syria is a wreck and has international significance primarily as a battlefield. Even if Iran and Russia are able to “save” Assad ……

“Naming of Salman Abedi by ‘US officials’ hours before it was announced by UK authorities is latest in series of leaks that may damage credibility with allies.”

“American officials have been criticised for leaking the identity of the Manchester bomber before British police officially named him.
Salman Abedi was identified in media reports that attributed “US officials” as the source even as their British counterparts remained tight-lipped.”

“Although UK journalists had Abedi’s name, the UK government and Greater Manchester police declined to confirm it more than two hours after it appeared in the US press. Earlier in the day, the government indicated it might not release the name at all on Tuesday because the investigation was continuing.”

This is terrible. And a few weeks ago, Trump was saying the U.K. had wire tapped him if Obama himself hadn’t. Then there were other blows to our allies in the U.K. Now, IN Israel, this man says, “I never said the word or the name, Israel.” Well, no one said he did! But with that statement, he then had!

IN Israel, this man says, “I never said the word or the name, Israel.” Well, no one said he did! But with that statement, he then had!

Yes.
I’m speechless.

In a strange kind of way it reminds me of an interview I saw on TV years ago where the person being interviewed tried to avoid an awkward question by claiming that she had lost the audio from the interviewer and therefore couldn’t hear his questions. (rough paraphrase below)

Interviewer: “There’s no problem with the audio. You can hear everything I say.
Interviewee (to person off camera): Why does he say I can hear him? When I can’t hear a word he says?

The former CIA director, John Brennan, has said there were enough contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Moscow by last summer to justify further investigation by the FBI.

In testimony to the House intelligence committee, Brennan gave the fullest account to date of the scale of the effort to combat Russian operations to affect the outcome of the 2016 elections.

He confirmed that the CIA had set up a special group with the NSA and FBI in late July to investigate the extent of Russian intervention in the presidential election. He briefed congressional leaders on the threat and on 4 August he warned Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Russian intelligence agency, FSB, in a telephone call to stop the meddling, telling him it would backfire. Bortnikov told Brennan he would pass on the message to Vladmir Putin.

Asked about Trump’s reported sharing of top-secret intelligence with Russian officials in the Oval Office, Brennan replied that, if true, Trump’s actions would have violated two intelligence protocols. One of those protocols dictated that such secrets should be shared through intelligence channels and not through ministers and diplomats. Secondly, the language shared with the Russians should have been cleared by the agency that first provided the intelligence.

Sally Yates warned the White House that Michael Flynn could be compromised
by the Russians — but some [Republicans] at her Senate hearing were more concerned
with how a newspaper learned that Flynn wasn’t telling the truth. Duration: 14:50

[Of course, we don’t know if he lied to the administration or they all knew.]